A New Approach to Monitoring Rupture Disc Operation

Abstract

Reliable sensors for monitoring rupture disc activation (also known as burst or rupture) are needed in order to provide immediate warning of a ruptured disc resulting from abnormal process overpressure or vacuum conditions. Many rupture discs are operated in harsh and/or hazardous environments, such as high temperature, highly corrosive, or explosive atmospheres. Also for some critical applications rupture discs and accessories with non-fragmentation features are necessary. Conventional or recently emerged sensors are available for burst disc detection, such as generic pressure switches and instruments specifically designed for burst disc detection. However, many of these devices are either mechanically too fragile, economically not practical, or not suitable for critical rupture disc applications. This paper introduces a new approach of monitoring rupture disc activation using flexible membrane sensor technology. Commercially available resistive type flexible sensors were studied and those with good performance in terms of responsive to burst sensing and materials most suitable for harsh environment were prototyped for the development. An algorithm was developed to carry out the signal processing and generate status signals using microcontrollers. With the low cost membrane sensors and increased functionalities and operability of microcontrollers, the method is expected to play an increasingly important role in rupture disc monitoring as well as other dynamic flow detection.